


Even If It's A Lie

by SunshineSkies13



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Badass Katara (Avatar), Crazy Azula (Avatar), Denial of Feelings, Eventual Katara/Zuko (Avatar), F/M, Feelings Realization, Hurt/Comfort, Katara (Avatar)-centric, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), Love Confessions, Minor Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar), Slow Build, Slow Burn Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zutara, Zutara Month, Zutara Week, burned katara, injured katara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:13:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24888178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineSkies13/pseuds/SunshineSkies13
Summary: His ideology is simple.Nothing comes before his duty as Fire Lord. Nothing comes before his country.But life should be more about surviving.And sometimes you have to lose what's most important to realize that.Multi Chapter low-burn, angst-filled, hurt-and-comfort, but also some light Gaang comedy, post-war Zutara
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Even If It's A Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This work, published 6-23-2020, is going to be updated every day or so, so please keep checking! (I've got it all story-boarded out, its gonna be a good one).  
> Also I looooove comments. Please leave me some :)

There’s something that feels sacrilegious, Katara decides, about entering the Fire Nation in a sky blue tunic.

In fact, its complete blasphemy to calmly disembark a Water Nation ship and stroll up to the literal Fire Nation Palace through the heart of its capital city. The last straw is when the tribesmen to her immediate left remarks on the weather, and Katara half expects a swarm of flying pigs to descend from above. 

As if reading her mind, Sokka slows his pace, falling back a couple lines in their procession to her side. 

“I’ll throw my boomerang if you want, give us a little taste of normalcy.”  
“Sokka -”  
“No really, I’m just gonna huck it at that guy over there - he looks like he’s asking for it anyway. Look at that stupid cabbage cart -”  
“Sokka!” Katara interrupts her brother’s ramblings with a small smile. “Don’t be an ass, he’ll lose all his cabbages. Throw it at that guy over there with the stick up his ass.” 

Sokka follows her gaze to an older Fire Nation man, watching their procession with a look like he just bit into a lemon. Sokka lets out a howl of laughter, swinging his arm around his sister. 

“I gotta admit, I like post-war you. Who knew you could do funny?” 

“It’s amazing what’s possible when you’re not focused on ending an imperialistic rule.” 

“Yeah, been there, done that.” Sokka winces, his tone sobering. “Now we just gotta pick up the pieces.” 

They lapse into silence at that. Katrara knows this next part isn’t going to be easy, but it also seems infinitely more possible than “teach the frozen teenager to master all four elements and defeat the most powerful dictator in the world while you run around trying not to get yourself killed.”

So, call her crazy, but she feels good. Things could definitely be worse. Besides, after a month at the South Pole, becoming Co-Chief with Sokka and discussing everything from what they would expect in a peace treaty to what they were willing to export for trading goods, she was ready to get to work creating a better tomorrow and be reunited with her friends again. Her friends and…

“So how’s Zuko?” 

Damn, how did he read her mind that well? 

“I’m sorry?” Katara feels her heart jump in her chest and stares bullets at the back of the tibesmen’s helmet in front of her. 

“You know, the guy who took literal lightening for you?” Without turning her head, Katara can basically hear the smirk in Sokka’s voice. “The one you brought back from the brink of death? How is he? Excited for our visit?” 

“I don’t know.” Katrara baulks, still reeling from Sokka’s brute commentary. She glances up at him with her brow furrowed. “How would I know?” Sokka raises his eyebrows. 

“From Aang’s letters the past month he says Zuko’s been writing you?” 

“I never got anything?” 

“No?” 

“Nope.” 

“Huh.” Sokka shakes his head. “That’s weird.” He then clears his throat uncomfortably. “Speaking of Aang, I’m sorry that fizzled out.” 

Katara lets out a breath as the conversation shifts away from Zuko. 

“Don’t be. Apparently unrequited love blocked one of his chakras or something? To go full into the avatar state and “Energy Bend” the Fire Lord’s bending away he needed to, and I quote, ‘let me go’.” Katara gives her head a shake. “Probably the most dramatic way to get over a crush in the history of everything, but I’m just glad it all worked out, we didn’t need to have any weird talk, and the friendship’s intact.” 

“Huh.” Sokka tilts his head to the left, like a puppy deep in thought. “Nothing’s ever simple with anything Avatar related, is it?” Katara barks out a laugh. 

“You can say that again.” 

Their procession pulls up short at the gold gates surrounding the palace. They stand still for a very pregnant pause. For the first time, an air of unease ripples through her people. A couple soldiers in their procession bring their hands up to rest on the hilts of daggers and swords cinched at their waists. 

Suddenly, a loud screech of metal reverberates around them. Their party simultaneously relaxes, and watches with awe as the gates crumple and fold in on themselves in a matter of seconds.  
Katara puts up a hand to shield her eyes from the low evening sun and makes out the silhouette of a girl with her hands outstretched and a shit-eating grin on her face. Behind Toph, Katara can see two horror-stricken fire sages sprinting across the palace lawns toward them. 

“I told them they were taking too long to open this damn thing!” Toph cries, releasing the last bits of gate so they hit the ground with a bang. 

“Now come on!” She smirks. “You’re missing the cocktail hour!”


End file.
